New York State Allies for
Public Education (NYSAPE), a coalition of more than fifty parent and educator
advocacy groups throughout the state, released a scorecard http://www.scribd.com/doc/238348598/NYSAPE-Gubernatorial-Candidate-Scorecard-2014
comparing the key education positions of the candidates running for Governor.
NYSAPE personally communicated with all the candidates’ campaign teams. NYSAPE
is committed to communicating the most accurate information on issues that
matter to parents, teachers, and other friends of public education.New Yorkers who care
about public education will have a clear choice for the Democratic primary on
September 9 and for the general election on November 4.

Governor Cuomo is the only candidate
among the five who supports the Common Core standards. When it comes to
the hot-button issue of teacher tenure, Rob Astorino opposes the law as it
stands now. Zephyr Teachout, Howie Hawkins, and Randy Credico support teacher
tenure. However, the Governor is noncommittal as his reply was, “Any
change to the current law would have to be carefully reviewed". Similarly,
the four challengers are opposed to keeping John King as Education Commissioner.
The Governor’s response to NYSAPE was, “It is inappropriate to comment on
specific individuals in this context”.

The four challengers also
oppose APPR, which ties teacher evaluation to student test scores, while the
Governor, a prime sponsor of the law which created the system, fully supports
it. All candidates support significantly rolling back time spent on
standardized testing. However, the Governor claims that the recent legislation
banning K-2 testing and capping test prep time will significantly roll back
testing. In reality, it does nothing to reduce standardized testing time for 3rd
through 8th grade students.

As to education spending,
the Governor opposes fully funding Foundation Aid, Rob Astorino is noncommittal
and said “it depends on the state’s financials”, while the other three
candidates – namely Zephyr Teachout, Randy Credico and Howie Hawkins – all
support full funding. The candidates are similarly polarized when it
comes to charter schools. The Governor supports the expansion of charter
schools; Astorino who supports charters schools is noncommittal to the
expansion, while the other three candidates do not support their
expansion.

Lisa Rudley, Westchester County
public school parent and founding member of NYSAPE said, “Governor Cuomo has
failed to listen to parents and he continues to ignore our concerns. Unlike
every other candidate, he does not oppose keeping John King as Commissioner,
who has disrespected our views when it comes to our opposition to the Common
Core and our need to protect our children’s privacy.”

Jeanette Deutermann,
Nassau County public school parent and founder of Long Opt Out said, “We must
put an end to the test obsession that has hijacked our classrooms. It’s clear
from this scorecard that Governor Cuomo, while he claims he supports a
significant rollback, his record says otherwise.”

"The governor boasts
the passage of four on-time budgets in a row and that he closed the budget gap.
Do not be fooled; these claims are self-serving at best. Cuomo siphoned
billions of precious dollars away from public education to satisfy cronyism and
business interests. We must remember this come September’s Democratic primary
election and November’s general election," said Anna Shah, Dutchess County
public school parent.

“Governor Cuomo used his
power in Albany to subsidize charter schools in NYC at the expense of our
public schools and against the wishes of our democratically-elected mayor,”
said NYC public school parent, Nancy Cauthen. “Our neighborhood public schools
are hugely overcrowded, with thousands of students sitting in trailers or on
waiting lists for kindergarten. And now city taxpayers will have to provide
charter schools space in our public school buildings on demand or pay for their
rent in private space,” Cauthen further stated.

“NYSAPE is providing this
scorecard because it is imperative that voters in New York understand
the positions of each candidate running for Governor. APPR, the teacher
evaluation system imposed by the Governor, is harming students and teachers who
are unfairly judged by this damaging system,” said Katie Zahedi, Dutchess
County principal at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, New York.

"I find it startling that
Governor Cuomo won’t commit to supporting teacher tenure, but says that he
would have to ‘carefully review’ the law. It is only because of tenure
that teachers have the courage to stand up for their students when student
rights are abused,” said Chris Cerrone, Erie County public school parent,
special education teacher, and Springville-Griffith Institute CSD Board Member.

Tim Farley, Columbia County public
school parent, educator, and member of NYSAPE said, "The current Governor
refuses to listen to the concerns of parents and educators from across the
state to make major course corrections in his educational policies. We demand
an end to high-stakes testing and the flawed APPR system, and we want our
children's sensitive data protected once and for all. If he refuses to listen,
we will put someone else in office who will."

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

If a reader is merely skimming this post (most readers' eyes make an "F" formation when doing so) s/he might be too impatient to read all the candidates' positions on the issues and whether they favor your side-- with so much heavy text.

Bullet points might therefore be better to zero in on each issue and each candidate's stand, and whether they favor your side.

This text buried in the middle, jumped out at me:"Lisa Rudley, Westchester County public school parent and founding member of NYSAPE said, 'Governor Cuomo has failed to listen to parents and he continues to ignore our concerns.'"